Monthly JMG Book Special!

[ecosophia]

 As mentioned earlier, the folks at Llewellyn have obligingly given me a set of discount codes for my backlist, one per month, 20% off if you order it directly from the Llewellyn website. For the month of July, the book on sale is The Coelbren Alphabet, my book on the traditional poetic, magical, and divinatory alphabet of the Welsh bards. ("Welsh runes" is a pretty good short description.) You can order a copy here; enter the discount code JMG0818 at checkout for the 20% off. 

While you're waiting for it to arrive, if you've got questions about the book, why, I'm the one to ask. ;-)

Comments

Done!

[marktaber]

After stocking up (I've just started studying out of your DH), I told myself, "No more books." Well, okay, no more new books after August 1st! ;-)

I've just started learning the techniques of Celtic knotwork, and the Ogham and now the Coelbren alphabet all fit with what I'm groping towards in my abstract, non-representational work. I knew that I was trying to work towards something spiritual. Who knew I'd find the future of my art in the past? ;-)

I really mean it this time! No more new books (for at least a few weeks...)

Thanks,
Mark

Re: Done!

[ecosophia]

I have the same problem. Sara and I literally have too many books to fit in a spacious two-bedroom apartment, and yet there are still so many books out there we don't have yet... ;-)

[(Anonymous)]

I found a book of yours called "A World Full of Gods: An Inquiry Into Polytheism" on Amazon (link below). It doesn't seem to be listed on the nonfiction tab of ecosophia.net, is there any special reason for this?

https://www.amazon.com/World-Full-Gods-Inquiry-Polytheism/dp/0976568101

Best,
Olof

[ecosophia]

No, just an oversight; I'll fix that when I have the time. Thanks for the reminder!

[(Anonymous)]

The Occult Book and the collected ADR essays aren't listed on there either...

Link ?

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,
The link didn't give me anything.
Cheers
Edward

Re: Link ?

[ecosophia]

That's odd -- I just clicked on it and went straight to the Llewellyn web page for the book. If you have further trouble, try entering this URL into your browser:

http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738750880

Birthday ritual

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

That was odd, worked for me later too.

On a completely cheeky and unrelated matter - it's my birthday this weekend (so can't wait til Monday) Do you have any rituals that are good to do on ones birthday?

I'm nearly finished the CGD Ovate grade of that is any relevance.

Many thanks for any thoughts
Cheers
Edward
Many thanks for

Re: Birthday ritual

[ecosophia]

Happy birthday! It used to be standard practice in ancient times to burn some incense to your guardian spirit on your birthday, thanking it for the various blessings it brought your way in the year just past and asking for its protection and help in the year to come. You can do that in a temple open in the Ovate Grade if you like!

Re: Birthday ritual

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you very much, kind sir!

Coelbren and numeric values

[andrewbwatt.com]

One of the things that is often useful with other magical lettering systems (*cough* Hebrew *cough), is the existence of a numerical value for each letter. I realize that the initial system didn't come with any numerical values. Have you experimented at all with trying to determine some numerical values for some of the letters yet? Have there been any results from such studies?

I think the other big question that I've had, in writing with the alphabet in order to learn the letters, is the spelling of common "th" words. What are the correct Coelbren TH (1 letter) vs T-h (2 letter) spellings of the words in this list?

The
These
This
Those
That
Bath
Bathe
Bother
Both
Thoth
Theology

One of my challenges seems to be that I don't hear the letter difference between the TH and t-h clearly enough, and my pronunciation tends to vary based on whether the next word begins with a vowel or a consonant when the word ends (in Roman letters) with -th ... Gabriel Wyner, in his book FLUENT FOREVER, seems to chalk this up to a need to practice phonemes in my target languages, and learn to hear the difference between the sounds with immediate feedback (as he recommends for Japanese speakers learning to distinguish between the R and L sounds). But every time I think I have the sounds worked out, something happens that makes me think I'm wrong, again.

Re: Coelbren and numeric values

[ecosophia]

Okay, first of all, by TH do you mean Dd? There's a Coelbren letter for Th, but it's only used in the 38-letter Coelbren that was invented by late grammarians, and doesn't appear in my book. Dd, or to give it its proper Coelbren name Ddi, is the 22nd letter of the Coelbren alphabet and has the sound of voiced "th" in the English phrase "these clothes," as distinct from the unvoiced form in "thin cloth." Dd also counts as a single letter in modern Welsh.

Of course it's a challenge to write any English word in an alphabet designed for Welsh, because Welsh is far more phonetic in its spelling; the extra e in "these" makes no sense from a Welsh context. Still, the words The, These, This, Those, That, Bathe, and Bother are all given the voiced th, so would be spelled with Ddi, while Bath, Both, Thoth and Theology are all spoken with the unvoiced th, and so would be spelled with Ti + Hi.

Re: Coelbren and numeric values

[ecosophia]

Oh, and I forgot to mention the issue of numerical values, didn't I? No, that's one of those things I left for other researchers. I personally never found much value in gematria, so didn't pursue it in this context.

Re: Coelbren and numeric values

[andrewbwatt.com]

I think that's fair. Mathematical values don't sort themselves easily right away, in any case... and it may be that the task of figuring out those values will be some lovely mad Welsh-speaking druid with a love of arithmetic!

That... would not be me. :-)

Next?

[(Anonymous)]

Are these going on sale in any particular order? I'm trying to discipline myself to wait until "Atlantis" and "Secret of the Temple" come up. We'll see how long I hold out!

RPC

Re: Next?

[ecosophia]

The order was Llewellyn's choosing -- I think it has to do with what's piled up highest in the warehouse. Atlantis is next month's book, though, and The Secret of the Temple is December's.

Re: Next?

[ritaer]

Drat--I just bought Atlantis last month. Can't remember how to type the 'shrug' idiogram.

Rita

Re: Next?

[packshaud]

So, Encyclopedia of Natural Magic and The Celtic Golden Dawn had the highest stacks, or am I reading too much into this?

There is a comment on TCGD system I always forget to make, forgive me for posting it here. I suspect strongly that--for nature or nurture, maybe both--I would rank quite high on the autism spectrum, though I don't have a M.D. stamped certificate to show. Part of my interest on magic is to learn how to overcome this.

With the disclaimer out of the way--I am an autist too--I want to remark I'm afraid that TCGD will never be suited for group practice. Being designed by someone who is not used to the mysterious intricacies of social relations, the system has no immunity against destructive tendencies of group practice. It is, and it always will be, good for the solitary practitioner, not for lodges.

Re: Next?

[ecosophia]

You're reading too much into it. I talked Llewellyn into doing the monthly special because someone posted a question on Magic Monday that made it clear they didn't know I'd written a book on natural magic, so that's why that one went first. As for the others, the size of a stack has as much to do with how recently a title's been reprinted as anything else.

With regard to the Celtic Golden Dawn, first, did you notice anything in that book about group practice? That's because there wasn't anything. The system was designed and structured from top to bottom for solitary practice, because that's the way the great majority of mages practice these days. That said, it's entirely possible that a lodge system will emerge from it, and when that happens I won't be inventing the group system -- I'll be using standard fraternal lodge methods, which are about as well designed to head off toxic group practice tendencies as any system in existence. While I have Aspergers syndrome, I'm far from unused to "the mysterious intricacies of social relations" -- I've simply had to figure them out consciously, rather than relying on the unconscious working of the mirror neurons I don't have -- and I've been an active member of lodges for the last 25 years, so have a little experience along those lines...

Re: Next?

[packshaud]

Perhaps I was projecting my own, personal failures into your work. This was posted on good will; I just do not want the egregore of the system to get tainted.

Edit: I'm too early into the book to be able to tell about the whole. It's funny, both in the interesting and the comic sense, how magic tends, one way or another, to get your problems solved, you wanting it or not. TSW, indeed.

[ganeshling]

Are you planning on releasing a second edition of The Celtic Golden Down with Coelbren mixed in? If so, do you have a rough ETA in mind?

I'm winging through a study of both at the moment and it would be very nice to see your take on the sensible approach to it.

[ecosophia]

Not exactly. The interplay between the Coelbren and the Druidical GD will be a central theme of a forthcoming book, The Celtic Cabala, which is still a couple years out -- I need to finish field testing all the practices and pathworkings in it before I take it past the rough-notes stage. (I never put a practice in a book that I haven't done thoroughly myself.) For the time being, the table in back of the Coelbren book that links the Coelbren letters to the geomantic figures and the Tree of Life should give you some guidance.

[(Anonymous)]

The story of the Coelbren is another lovely mad tale in the lovely mad history of the Druid Revival, but my favorite bit of this book is the lovely mad chance that led you to rediscover the meanings of the letters. From practically the moment I stepped onto the Druid path I've had odd and uncommon books dropped into my hands (often within a month of learning about them from one of your blogs), so I could certainly identify with that story--not that I've been given anything quite that momentous, at least not yet ;-) --Sister Crow

[ecosophia]

Just wait -- there's something preposterously important waiting to fall into your hands at an unlikely bookstore sometime soon... ;-)

[(Anonymous)]

For those on the fence, I can say that I really enjoyed this book and the divination system it covers. I have a loooong way to go to get good at it, but it was giving me accurate readings very quickly. The fact that the letters are actions makes it handy for any type of question in which you want to know how things will act on you, or how you need to act in a situation. The system is well-explained, and the meanings are neatly arranged for reference, including a few tables of correspondance in the back. I haven't yet tried all the layouts. The three rays is what I use almost exclusively because it's simple and it works. I did try the very extensive 10-letter reading recently and it gave me a no-holds-barred, detailed overview of a big long situation, so I might keep using that one for more complex questions that cover lots of time and variables.

The one struggle I have is consistent practice. Since I do a daily geomantic reading, and have for 3 years or so, I always ask that oracle about my day, which gives me daily feedback for learning the meanings of the symbols. With Coelbren, I have trouble finding questions that give me instant feedback, and therefore allow me to check my interpretations and fine tune what the letters mean. A lot of the things I've asked are still playing out. I don't want to ask two oracles the same question on the same day, so I really need to figure out a second question I can ask the Coelbren each day that will resolve by the end of the day and allow me to check my work.

If you don't already have a daily system, this won't be an issue for you. I still have a lot to learn about geomancy, though.

Question about Coelbren as a rune system

[jpc_w]

Back in either TADR or WOG, you mentioned an inherent incompatibility in using (Norse) Runes and the Ogham alphabet. Does the Coelbren have any similar issues?

Re: Question about Coelbren as a rune system

[ecosophia]

I don't know yet. The only reason I know that most people who use runes can't use Ogham, and most people who use Ogham can't use runes, is that I've talked to a lot of people who've found this to be the case. We'll have to see what happens as more people take up the Coelbren...

Working with the Coelbren

[(Anonymous)]

Hello John,
I've just come across you and your book today. I haven't read it yet and it'll take some time for me to get hold of it due to where I live. I didn't want to wait to reach out until I've read the book. I received the Coelbren in 1998 by Ioan Einion of the Gwyddon tradition. A family from Harlech in North Wales. Ioan passed away in 2003. I'm super curious to see what you've got!

Re: Working with the Coelbren

[ecosophia]

Hmm! I'd be very interested to hear anything you're willing to share about the version of the Coelbren you received.